Twisted

After what must have been an hour of listening to both Sevi and Levantros recounting the events of what happened to the whole of Yvtar, Rethys realized something.

That the two of them were completely unaware of, or severely underestimating, who, or rather what they were dealing with.

The cultist leader had recounted to him the events that led to this place becoming what it was now, a sequence of events that was surprisingly unimpressive.

It began with the cultists summoning an ungodly number of daemons within the old catacombs that the Mage-State of Yvtar was built over. These daemons then overran the city and provided the cultists with the distractions necessary for them to attempt a supposedly forbidden ritual that would elevate them to beings higher than humanity.

This, apparently, explained why the cultists could regenerate energy endlessly, unlike regular human mages that suffered backlash from overusing the unbound ability. But this process they underwent seemingly backfired, and the changes that occurred to their souls rendered them into twisted failures. The so-called "Ancient Daemon" they struck a deal with had double crossed them or some such.

It was afterwards that the Titan, the Custodian presiding over humankind, stepped in to contain the fallout. He and his servants then did the bare minimum required of them to render Yvtar and its remnants harmless to the rest of the world without outright fully purifying it and its lands.

So was the story as told by the cultist leader apparently responsible for all of it, and subsequently condemned to be imprisoned helplessly with his cult until Tevohs itself saw fit to reclaim them back into its soil.

This story was also corroborated by Sevi, who interrogated Levantros thoroughly and confirmed the truthfulness of what he revealed.

Yet throughout this long exchange of subtle lies and clever misdirection, the two did not at all realize that Rethys was aware of their bullshit.

And it was thanks to the most esoteric and uncontrollable ability his element imparted on him, one that allowed him to sense emotions. As far as he could tell, it allowed him to share in the most profound feelings that souls radiated and feel them himself. On the other hand, however, it dulled his own emotions, extremely at times.

An unhelpful ability he concluded, despite the benefits it might bring, but at the same time he also doubted that it was all there is to it. He hypothesized that it was this ability that allowed the Origin entity to detect lies and read souls, which it then fed back to him through their previous bond.

'Would I be able to do that one day?' He thought to himself before returning to the matter of the two liars.

It was thanks to his ability to sense others' emotions that he realized from the very beginning of Sevi and Levantros' misdirection, and that the two knew each other very well.

From Sevi, he felt surprise, outrage, and indignation towards the cultist leader, emotions not at all out of place considering that he was responsible for the fall of her country and her current predicament. Yet at the same time, he felt her affection, longing, then intense disappointment and disgust towards the robed man standing before them.

From Levantros, he felt recognition, curiosity and affection, a jarring contrast compared to what he displayed when recounting his own heinous and unforgivable actions. The man didn't show even the smallest speck of shame or regret when speaking of the civilization he doomed yet displayed such deep emotions towards what was supposed to be just another victim.

It was a complex mixture of emotions that the two did their hardest to not show in their mannerisms or speech, yet still unknowingly radiated into the ether.

From there Rethys slowly took his time to unpack the mess of emotions and translate it into usable information, prompting him to realize a few things.

Sevi had lied about what she was, which was not all surprising, all things considered. What was surprising however is the fact that she meant quite a bit to the cultist leader, enough to be the only thing that could elicit any sort of response from him.

The horrid man was also very inclined to helping her, and whether that was because of who or what she was, Rethys couldn't tell.

Regardless, he retained the ability to make the final call, Sevi couldn't control him and Levantros couldn't stop him from excising the soul from that white soulstone right then and there. This was why they lied to begin with, after all.

'But why are they lying?' He thought.

He already made it clear to Sevi that he was tolerant of a lot of things, and that he prioritized getting out of this place over pretty much everything else. The fact that she still had things to hide hinted that there was something about her and her intentions that would either harm or offend him.

Maybe she was part of the cultist's posse and was responsible for her own share of atrocities.

'That would tick me off pretty badly...' Rethys nodded inwardly.

It would explain a lot, from her comprehensive knowledge of daemons to the reason why the cultist leader would help her.

Or maybe all of this lying was born of desperation. For despite the other emotions they radiated, intense desperation remained a constant. And Rethys had judged Sevi to not be evil, or at least not twisted, as he sensed disgust and outright fear from her when witnessing the blatant transgressions against nature they came across.

Add to it that Sevi's surprise didn't stem from seeing the cultist leader, but rather from hearing him talk. It seemed that she didn't think he was still sane.

'I'll make up my mind once I squeeze the truth out of them.' He decided, snapping out of his own thoughts and focusing back on the conversation taking place before him.

"...strange indeed. The hollow wraiths are in fact so dangerous that even WE avoided them, they predate us in these catacombs you see." The robed man nodded.

"Enough about your tangents already!" Sevi retorted.

Listening to Sevi's desperate attempts to make their conversation sound natural, he wondered how to handle this whole ordeal.

This was it, he had her cornered now. All he had to do now was break this charade and get the truth out of them.

"Rethys I do not understand why you bother with this man; his word is unreliable at best and-" Sevi began before being interrupted.

"That's extremely rich coming from you." He declared; his voice cold, calm, and cruel. "I can tell that both of you are lying. You both know and care for each other, and you're hiding something from me."

Instantly the room was overtaken by silence and drenched in cold, primordial fear. Rethys was even frightened by it for a moment before he composed himself and regarded the two with wary glares.

"It's pointless, just come clean. Tell me everything. And don't worry, I'll keep an open mind." He continued.

The first to snap out of the surprise was Sevi.

"Rethys, what are you on about? This man has caused the downfall of my country and has committed crimes beyond reproach! How dare you lump me in with him?!" Sevi snapped.

Rethys, however, was having none of that, and activated his infusion magic. This blocked most of The Blood mage's powers, for whereas it prevented a normal mage from using ranged magic, it just straight up disabled all her spells.

Anything she tried to cast now would detonate inside of Rethys' body, which he didn't mind, since he knew that she would never do it.

There was a reason, he figured, that she didn't just jump ship and join the cultist leader. He didn't like staking his life on an assumption, but at the same time didn't want inaction and doubt to doom him to a fate worse than death.

"Rethys what are you-" She yelled, only to be interrupted again.

"You have no choice but to give up and tell me the whole truth, or I'll just assume the worst of both of you and kill all three of us. I saw what you did to innocent people in this place, and I know better than to humor either of you for even a second." He explained calmly and with measured voice, as if he didn't just threaten to do the unthinkable.

He then laid his hand on the pale creature's face, on the alabaster gem that housed its powerful, twisted soul.

"Don't try me, Sevi." He declared.

"Fascinating..." The robed creature sighed, uncaring of Rethys' threat. "A unique ability of Origin... how riveting... to detect lies despite the extreme gap between us..."

"...wait... what are you..." A soft voice uttered, the words almost choking her.

Before she could formulate any response to the young man's ultimatum however, the cultist leader spoke.

"The summonings of daemons done here was only a diversion to summon the eldritch, gods of ether that we wished would fulfill our ambitions. Yet they disappeared the moment they crossed into the material world. Sevi, or Sevindris Phellegor, is my daughter, whom I used as one of the sacrifices these eldritch needed to manifest. The one that possessed her was the only one we successfully bent to our will and imprisoned.

"Our plans were then disrupted by the Titan soon after, and we were all damned into imprisonment ourselves, along with our subservient eldritch. It seems that it has somehow died since then, and Sevi rose and inherited its powers. What I believe happened afterwards is that she tricked you into releasing the Fell Effigy from its chains using your element. And I assume you know what followed.

"And there, everything and anything that you might wonder about." Levantros concluded.

"Why did you..." Sevi tried speaking, her voice choking from panic.

"The boy's conviction is real. It is pointless to keep trying to deceive or convince him, my dear-"

"...do not... CALL ME THAT!!" She shrieked.

Rethys felt a feedback of anger run through him, yet it quickly subsided as he focused on what truly mattered.

He didn't let bias dictate his actions now. His thoughts were cold and rational, and before him was a treasure trove of information.

Still, he was curious of his unwilling partner's nature.

"So that was your plan, to sacrifice thousands just to give your kid these powers?" He asked.

"No. Our plan was to access the knowledge the eldritch had acquired in its tens of thousands of years of existence in the ethereum, and we imprisoned it in a soulstone just like this one here." The robed man revealed as he tapped the precious stone adorning his face. "The fact that the Mother of Grace died, and permanently might I add, is a complete failure. And though the girl having inherited such magnificent powers IS impressive, the sheer loss of knowledge that comes with the death of such an ancient creature is nothing short of tragic."

Rethys didn't know how to react to what he had heard. This man had sacrificed his own flesh and blood to some ancient evil without any remorse, and upon finding out she survived, only bemoaned the loss of... knowledge. He was disturbed, to say the least.

And from what his senses told him, Sevi wasn't taking it well either.

"You're beyond despicable..." Rethys muttered, his face contorting into a deep scowl. "Just how many did you doom for your precious knowledge?"

"I care not what you, or her for that matter, may think. The masses, their morals, their very futures... all meaningless before the pursuit of perfection and TRUTH." The cultist leader declared.

"It's not about morals you piece of shit. There are some lines you just must never cross."

"As if you would understand, mindless ethermaniac." Levantros scoffed with derision. "No cost too great, no obstacle insurmountable, no thing too holy. Ours is TRUE conviction, eternal, pure, and wholly unbreakable. And though we failed, and now stand here as 'monuments of failure', given the chance, I will do it all over again, and better. Given the chance, there would be no failures, and we would stand at the peak of all magic, elevated, ENLIGHTENED."

He sensed it returning, the overwhelming madness. It seemed that Sevi didn't lie about the Purity element.

He then sensed other emotions, ones not his own yet still too close to his soul. Indescribable distress, sorrow beyond words. Something had broken.

"You're insane..." Rethys uttered, having difficulty coping with the flood of emotion.

"I need not appeal to you any further. I sense in your words and actions a great conviction, a kind above any carried by the ordinary dregs of Tevohs, and similar to MY own. Any argument between us is a pointless waste of time for us both. After all, one day, you too will see truth." The robed man explained.

"And you were trying to help her earlier, by lying to me... that is just..." Rethys shook his head, having difficulty comprehending what the hell he was dealing with.

"I care for my daughter. You may not believe it, and I still will not argue over it. YET KNOW... that I care for her." The cultist leader declared, his hands crossed and his attitude clear.

Sevi's tumultuous storm of emotions then suddenly silenced, and Rethys felt some calm return to the ether around him.

'Valid reaction, I guess...' He sighed inwardly.

Pure evil. That is what he believed he was standing before. Belief in twisted and vile ideals, the willingness to do anything to accomplish one's goals, then the cherry on top as the unshakable conviction that he was right, above everyone and everything else.

It disgusted him beyond words, but more than anything, made him feel really bad for Sevi. All of this seemed genuine, there was no dichotomy between action and emotion now, only one between father and child.

He was, for better or for worse, witnessing truth. A very putrid truth.

But he wouldn't waste such a chance, for before him stood one of the quintessential parts of what Yvtar was and had since become. If anyone knew of a way out, it was this unholy excuse of a man.

Yet, he still couldn't accept the attitude the man displayed.

"Pfft... Not more than you care about your pathetic 'ancient knowledge'." He sneered. "You know, I feel for you, Sevi. Hard to trust anyone when this guy is your dad. But you know...-"

He then stopped talking, his words trailing away into the void.

Suddenly, Sevi's emotional silence turned into bubbling, raging, furious and righteous anger. He was completely overtaken by the wave of unstoppable fury, and evidently, so was she.

A thick tendril of blood burst out of Rethys' chest and twisted around Levantros' gemmed head before squeezing very, very hard.

Rethys didn't even have the time to be surprised before the gem shattered like brittle glass, releasing the soul within to be taken by the ether.